Arranging graduation

You're about to graduate. That means there’s a lot to be arranged. The university expects you to take certain steps, as does your faculty and/or institute. Your faculty has various regulations and procedures in place that you need to follow carefully when arranging your graduation.

Steps towards graduation

Graduation means there’s a lot to be arranged. Below you will find a general overview of the steps to be taken. Make sure to first read the information provided by your faculty and department, as regulations and procedures can vary.

You receive the final grade needed to fulfil your examination requirements.

You request graduation: look under the faculty/study programme tab to find out exactly what steps your programme requires you to take to arrange graduation. You may receive a message from uSis entitled ‘You can graduate’. This message will explain the options available if you wish to delay graduation.

Your student registration will not automatically be cancelled when you graduate. You have to take care of this yourself. However de-registration is not compulsory if you have a reason for not wishing to do so. Make sure to carefully read the information on de-registering or re-registering.

Requesting postponement of graduation

If you receive a message from uSis entitled ‘You can graduate’, but you don’t yet want to graduate because you are taking additional courses or an internship that you want to be mentioned on your final transcript, you can request postponement of graduation.

Conditions of postponement

The maximum duration of postponement you can request is until you have been registered on your study programme for the official programme duration plus one additional year. For Bachelor’s programmes this is 3+1 years, for most Master’s programmes this is 1+1 year. If you are more than a year behind in your studies your request will not be granted.

Official regulations on postponing graduation

Once you have gained all the study points required, you can graduate. What steps do you have to take to request graduation and how should you correctly process your academic requirements in uSis? There are also important deadlines when making a request for your diploma. Lastly, you can choose to request to postpone your graduation, for example if you wish to follow extra courses.

Graduation procedure

During the year, if you want to graduate, you have to inform the Graduate School Office at least 5 weeks before you get your last grade (last examination or graduation interview). You can do this via e-mail​ or in person at the office.
In the Summer Period the processing time is longer, because of the amounts of graduation requests. Therefore, if you want to graduate in Summer it is safe to inform the Graduate School Office two months in advance.

At that time, not all grades are expected to be registered in uSis. But you can already check whether all the grades that are in your course history are also visible in your academic requirements.

Ensure that your academic requirements are properly processed as quickly as possible. You can read how to do this under 'Academic requirements in uSis'. You can also consult uSis-Help, where necessary.

Don’t forget to de-register via Studielink if you have fully completed your studies and will no longer be studying.
If you decide to take a Master’s degree after your Bachelor’s, you also have to register via Studielink for this Master’s degree programme.

Request to postpone your graduation

If you do not want to graduate yet, you can request postponement of graduation at the exam board of your institute. To do this, you can use the webform.

The Board of Examiners shall accommodate the request if the student has been enrolled in the programme for which the request has been submitted for no longer than the duration of studies plus one year. If you have already passed this duration your request will most likely not be approved. More information about the request for postponement.

If you want to start your master study at the 1st of September, you have to finish your bachelor study by the end of august. You must then follow the following graduation process:

The deadline for registration is 1st July.
When you register at the Graduate School Office, please hand in a graduation programme, that is signed for agreement by the Exam Committee.

At that time not all grades have to be known in uSis, but ensure that your academic requirements in uSis are properly processed as soon as possible and certainly by 15th July at the latest.

Make sure that your final grade, after finishing the course has been handed in to the Graduate School Office as soon as possible. It is you own responsibility to check this! Don’t assume that your lecturer will hand in your grade!
For some degree programmes there are chances to take a last-minute re-sit. If you still have to obtain your very last grade in the last week, the Graduate School Office staff will take this into account. Let them know your plans and schedule when you register for graduation.

Graduating for your MASTER's degree in the summerperiod

If you want to graduate in the summer, the following process applies. This helps to spread the work load for the student administration department.

The deadline for registration is 1st July.
When you register at the Graduate School Office, please hand in a graduation programme, that is signed for agreement by the Exam Committee. At that time not all grades have to be known in uSis, but ensure that your academic requirements in uSis are properly processed as soon as possible and certainly by 15th July at the latest.

Make sure that your final grade, after finishing the course has been handed in to the Graduate School Office as soon as possible. It is you own responsibility to check this! Don’t assume that your lecturer will hand in your grade! For some degree programmes there are chances to take a last-minute re-sit. If you still have to obtain your very last grade in the last week, the Graduate School Office staff will take this into account. Let them know your plans and schedule when you register for graduation.

Academic requirements in uSis

The “Academic Requirements” section in uSis describes which programme you need to follow in order to pass in accordance with the OER (Course and Examination Regulations). Only when your course history appears under “academic requirements” can a diploma and the respective Diploma Supplement be prepared.

Under “academic requirements” you will see the compulsory subjects on your curriculum and also a number of the most popular elective subjects.

However, as there are so many elective subjects available, not all of the subjects that you can take have been named. To obtain permission for one of these elective subjects you have to submit a petition request to the Board of Examiners. For students nearing graduation, you could consider the following two scenarios:

In the past you have already obtained permission for a subject. In this case, hand in proof of this permission to the Graduate School Office. The Graduate School Office staff will make sure that this permission is processed in uSis;

You don’t yet have permission from the Board of Examiners to take a subject. In this case you should submit a petition request as shown under Electives.

When your grade for the approved elective subject is determined in uSis, it will appear under your academic requirements and you will be a step closer to graduation. Do you still have questions about any of the above? Then send an e-mail to your study advisor (if it is about the contents of the subjects or your programme) or tousis-fwn@edufwn.leidenuniv.nl (if it is a question about uSis).

University website about official graduation rules

Graduation for the Propedeuse exam

When you manage to finish the first year program in 1 year, you will be automatically informed about a faculty ceremony in October during which the Propedeuse diploma’s are handed over to the students.

If you did not make this, but had a positive BSA advice, you will probably finish your propedeuse somewhere in another year.
As you are the one who will notice this first, we ask you to come to the Graduate School office to officially ask for the Propedeuse Diploma. Doing this, you have 2 advantages:

You wil receive an official Propedeuse diploma

There will be no delay when you end your complete Bachelor exam. A Propedeuse exam is a prerequisite for the Bachelor exam. Please be aware of that.